1.05.17: Presidential Kids, Half Wild, & 10MWW

The framers of American democracy rejected monarchy and its tradition of passing power through bloodline ...that has not stopped presidents past from relying on their kids. Today, Brady Carlson on first children who've made presidential politics a family business.

Also today, hold-outs, hippies, haves and have-nots live side-by-side in a collection of stories set in Vermont...not the picture postcard version.

Plus, the 10-Minute Writer's Workshop talks with a longtime copy writer for the LL Bean catalog.

Listen to the full show.

Listen

Listening...

/

37:35

1.05.17: Presidential Kids, Half Wild, & 10MWW

Presidential Kids

Donald Trump's candidacy, conduct and communication style are historically unprecedented. So, news announcement that his wife Melania will not move directly to the white house after the inauguration but that his daughter Ivanka will have an office there, and that family members may sit in on cabinet meetings was not entirely surprising. And, as it turns out, not unparalleled.

Brady Carlson is Word of Mouth's presidential historian and author of Dead Presidents. He's joining us from Wisconsin Public Radio to talk about presidential kids past.

Listen

Listening...

/

13:51

Presidential Kids

Oakland Black Cowboy Association Rides Again

For decades, American presidents looked westward for the nation's growth. Teddy Roosevelt developed a reputation as a rough rider - a fitting representative of the rugged, indomitable spirit of those who ventured forth to expand frontier. Julie Caine brings us a lesser-known story of settlers largely left out of history books.

The characters in Robin MacArthur's stories live in a slice of Vermont where mobile homes molder and barns sink into the sod, where the abandoned fields of burned-out dairy farms sit alongside swanky second homes. There, hollowed-out hippies and solitary loggers cling to their land. Over the forty years covered in her new collection of stories, they and their children resign themselves to waiting out the days or dream of leaving.

Today's 10-Minute Writer’s Workshop veers off the beaten path of literary fiction, non-fiction and genre writers. Fitting, in this case for a guy who perfected his craft writing about rugged, versatile pieces of clothing that makes the jump from sidewalk to summit. That'd be Jeffrey Ryan, who for many years wrote blurbs and product descriptions the venerable LL Bean catalogue.

Related Content

Asked to imagine a "medieval city", you probably think of Europe or the Middle East - walled fiefdoms, bustling market stalls, maybe a castle, cathedral or dome of a mosque - not the American plains. Today, we'll learn about the Native American mega city that was bigger than contemporary London and Paris.

Plus: a boy. A girl. A forbidden love. The tragic storyline transcends time and place. The folktale of "Layla and Majnun" inspired the first Middle Eastern opera, the classic rock song "Layla", and now, a multi-media collaboration between the Silk Road Ensemble and choreographer Mark Morris - and now you can see it close to home.

What do McDonalds hamburgers and NPR underwriting have in common? Ray and Joan Kroc. One, a business tycoon responsible for building a world-wide brand and the other a strong woman with a passion for progressive causes. Today we’re learning about the odd couple pairing of a billionaire-entrepreneur and peace-loving philanthropist.

Plus, a collection of stories follows characters down the slippery slope of technological dependency - and how to slow it down.

The New Year is a time to look ahead, but this week we’re looking back. Today a selection of our favorite stories and interviews of 2016. First up, we revisit a conversation about the global disappearance industry that plots, facilitates and documents fake deaths - and the investigators who track them down.

Then, we'll reminisce about some of the strangest school assemblies we endured growing up.

And Roman Mars of 99% Invisible looks into the origins of those inflatable tube men you see outside of car washes.

Irish author Emma Donoghue may be best known for Room, her novel written in the voice of a young boy confined with his mother in a single room. It was nominated for a Man Booker prize and made into an Oscar-winning film, for which she wrote the screenplay. Her most recent novel is The Wonder, about a "fasting girl" in 1850s Ireland.